All Hell Breaks Loose After Trump Says Women Should Be "Punished" For Illegal Abortions

Although one might fairly question the methodology behind the polls and whether the questions were designed to elicit a certain type of response, it is worth noting that in three separate surveys (NBC, WSJ, and CNN), Trump’s favorability rating with female voters was 27% or less.

Even if one assumes that the polls were inherently biased, there’s probably some truth to the contention that the things Trump has said about women in the past haven’t done anything to help him when it comes to garnering a large percentage of the female vote and may indeed come back to haunt him in a national contest with Hillary Clinton.

Well on Wednesday, in an MSNBC town hall event, Trump was cornered by host Chris Matthews who asked the GOP frontrunner about his position on illegal abortion.

Trump says "there has to be some form of punishment" for women who have abortions. Interview airs tonight at 8pmET.https://t.co/SR3st1X665

Host Chris Matthews presses Trump on anti-abortion position, repeatedly asking him, “Should abortion be punished? This is not something you can dodge”

“Look, people in certain parts of the Republican Party, conservative Republicans, would say, ‘Yes, it should,’” Trump answers

“How about you?” Matthews asks

“I would say it’s a very serious problem and it’s a problem we have to decide on. Are you going to send them to jail?” Trump says

“I’m asking you,” Matthews says

“I am pro-life,” Trump says

“How do you actually ban abortion?” Matthews asks

“Well, you go back to a position like they had where they would perhaps go to illegal places but we have to ban it,” Trump says

Matthews then presses Trump on if he believes there should be punishment for abortion if it were illegal

“There has to be some form of punishment,” Trump says

“For the woman?” Matthews says; “Yeah,” Trump says, nodding

Trump says punishment would “have to be determined”

“They’ve set the law and frankly the judges, you’re going to have a very big election coming up for that reason because you have judges where it’s a real tipping point and with the loss of Scalia, who was a very strong conservative, this presidential election is going to be very important,” Trump says

“When you say what’s the law, nobody knows what the law is going to be. It depends on who gets elected,” Trump says

Obviously, this was "gotcha" journalism on Matthews' part (once he established that he was referring to illegal abortions he knew he could pin Trump between having to either say women should be punished or that women could break the law with impunity), and as we saw last year with the whole Kurds/Quds Hugh Hewitt debacle, Trump is susceptible to badgering. The other problem here is that it isn't clear that Trump truly believes some of the things he's forced to say as a Republican candidate, which leads to exchanges like that recounted above. "Don't overthink it: Trump doesn't understand the pro-life position because he's not pro-life," a Cruz aid tweeted. Here's Politico with a bit of context:

Trump’s policy idea is a departure from most state abortion restrictions, which don’t impose penalties on the women who get abortions. Typically, any penalties are imposed on the physician who does the procedure.

The anti-abortion movement in recent decades has shied away from the perception that it is “punishing” women for getting abortions. Instead, it has focused on penalties for the physicians who provide them, such as imposing medical or legal restrictions on their practice. In some rare situations, women have faced charges associated with abortions they have attempted on their own.

Having realized this had become a PR fiasco, Trump promptly walked back his comments.

This is a statement released just moments ago, in which the billionaire revises his initial comments, calling the women "victims", and stating it is doctors who should be held legally responsible for performing the illegal act:

If Congress were to pass legislation making abortion illegal and the federal courts upheld this legislation, or any state were permitted to ban abortion under state and federal law, the doctor or any other person performing this illegal act upon a woman would be legally responsible, not the woman. The woman is a victim in this case as is the life in her womb. My position has not changed - like Ronald Reagan, I am pro-life with exceptions.

But by the time the Trump campaign released that statement it was far too late. The media, women's rights groups, pro-abortion groups, as well as all of Trump's political opponents smelled blood.

"The last person women need to police their health care decisions is someone who sees them not as people, but as ‘fat pigs,’ ‘bimbos’ and ‘disgusting animals,’" Marcy Stech, a spokeswoman for Emily's List, a pro-abortion-rights group said.

won't change much in Cruz vs Trump - he main actually gain some from Cruz - in Trump vs hitlery, it will be a push - he'll lose some women but he will also gain some from this - won't change much of anything

Come now. Name calling or defining him with the N-word is not true. Abortion is one of those issues that in the eyes of the DEMOCRAT PLANTATION PARTY IS A YES/NO PROPOSITION WITH NO LIMITS OR RIGHTS FOR THE UNBORN.

Honestly the whole abortion rights movement has become a sick twisted example of what we are letting happen to this country.

There are litterally women out there who are "celebrating" abortion like it some kind of right of passage and telling others that "every woman should have an abortion" for no other reason than to say they had one. what kind of fucked up bullshit is that? abortion is supposed to be an option of last resort and insane feminists are treating it like going to starbucks and trying a new latte. its a human life , not a pair of shoes to be thrown away on a whim. if you dont want to have a kid keep your fucking legs closed, use protection or fucking swallow that shit, and if you do get knocked up they have these places called orphanages where you can drop the baby off and other couples who are incapable of having children come and take the kid home and give it the chance at life that it deserves.

I heard his voice on the phone at the time, during an interview. He was so earnest, and his expressions were so sincere. I can't help but think he helped them build the trap. Just my anecdotal opinion.

Well if you actualy read what he said, he simply makes sense. IF abortion is illegal, THEN yes it needs a punishement for breaking the law. That's all he said.

You can debate if making it illegal is good or not (I think it would be an aweful decision), but why make it illegal if there is no consequences for breaking the law? What Trump said is just common sense.

I strongly believe in the sanctity of life and that life begins at conception. Under the 14th Amendment, it is the government’s duty to protect life as defined in our Constitution. Our government should not fund abortions. As President, I will stop the flow of taxpayer dollars to groups who perform or advocate for abortion.

noun, pluralfetuses.Embryology.1.(usedchieflyofviviparousmammals)theyoungofananimalinthe womboregg,especiallyinthelaterstagesofdevelopmentwhenthebodystructuresareintherecognizableformofitskind,inhumansaftertheendofthesecondmonthofgestation.ExpandAlso,especiallyBritish,foetus. The young of my species is a child, yours is an ass?